Slotting tool



L. A. SHEERAN SLOTTING TOOL Dec. 29, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 9,1962 INVENTOR. LLOYD A. SH EE RAN H 1,4 0: ATTORN EYS L. A. SHEERAN Dec.29, 1964 SLOTTING TOOL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 9. (1962 2' 4 4ww wFl-G. 5

United States Patent Ofidce 3,163,095 SLOTTING TOOL Lloyd Alan Sheer-an,Cranston, R.I., assignor to Rite-Size Corrugated Machinery Co., acorporation of Rhode Island Filed Oct. 9, 1962, Ser. No. 229,452 2Claims. (Cl. 93-58.3)

This invention relates to slotting tools for use with box blank formingmachines which are formed in conjunction with a creaser bar into aunitary tool structure.

In the prior art there exist a number of slotting and creaser bar toolswhich are useful in conjunction with forming blanks of corrugated boardwhich are of one or two ply thickness. However, when the thickness ofthe board is increased into three or four ply, certain problems ariseparticularly with the folding of this relatively thick structure. Thiscomes about since the creaser tool portions used in the prior art form asingle line crease, and it becomes structurally impossible to fold athick three or four ply corrugated board on a single line. It isaccordingly necessary to provide a different form of creaser for usewith slotting tools for operation on three or four ply board.

It is accordingly the main object of this invention to provide acombined slotting tool and creaser bar construction which will form twocreases at either side of a slot.

A further object of the invention is to provide a creaser barconstruction in conjunction with a slotting tool which resilientlyengages the wall of the board so as to gradually crush the same oremboss it.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction as will be more fully described andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a box blank having slots and creaser lines ofthe type adapted to be cut and formed by the tool of the instantinvention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating a portion of themachine utilizing the toolin the instant invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view of a portion of the tooladjacent one end thereof;

FIG. 4 is a sectional View taken on lines 4-4 of :FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a similar view showing the tool in engaging position at theend of its stroke in the machine;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which thecrease is formed;

FIG. 8 shows a crease formed with the tool of FIG. 7

folded;

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic view similar to FIG. 7 showing an alternateform of tool;

FIG. 10 shows a box blank folded with the creaser in FIG. 9 utilized;

box blank may be widely varied, but as shown for a I usual form of boxit has longitudinal crease lines 16l6 which extend parallel to andinwardly of the side edges. Transverse slots 17 extend inwardly from theside edges to terminate at the crease line 16-16, and between each3,1fi3fi95 Patented Dec. 29, 1964 pair of slots 17-17 there are formedtransverse crease lines 1813 in spaced relationship to each otherextending between the slots 17 on a line that can be generally referredto as the transverse edge of the slot 17.

The box blank forming machine referred to in the above mentioned Hosepatent and which may use the tool of the instant invention ischaracterized by having a horizontal work table 20 with a pair of feedrollers 21. These rollers operate in the direction of the arrows tograsp a board stock B and feed it into the machine or towards the rightas viewed in the drawing. Adjacent the feed rolls 21-21 is a verticallyreciprocal beam 25 which carries the combined slotting and creasing toolof the instant invention generally designated 26. This tool isreciprocated between guideways 27, 28 and is provided broadly withslotting tools 29 and creaser members Fin-3t). The slotting toolportions 29 on being reciprocated downward as viewed in the drawing willenter a slot 31, and the tool will cooperate for cutting action with apair of ledger plates 32. Spaced pairs of creasing rollers 3434 areprovided on the machine which creasing rollers operate through anopening in the table 20 and form the crease lines 1616 in the blank 15.Preferably associated with the machine is a vertically reciprocablecutofl. knife assembly 35, the knife portion 35' of which is adapted toenter a slot 36 and cooperate with a ledger plate 37 to cut the boxblank to the required length. Generally the operation of a machinebriefly described above is as follows:

The stock B is manually fed to be engaged by the feed rollers 21 as thesheet B is intermittently fed forward in the proper timed relationship.When the blank first stops, the slotting and creasing tool 26 descends,cutting the first pair of slots 17-17 and forming the first pair ofcreases 18-18, and about the same time the forward edge of the blank Bwill be engaged by the longitudinal creasing rolls 34-34 to begin theformation of the crease lines 1616. The blank again moves forward to thenext position, stops, and the slotting and creasing tool 26 againreciprocates downwardly to form the second pair of slots 1717, and thisoperation is repeated for the required number of slots. When the properlength ,of blank has been formed, forward motion is again arrested andthe cutofi? knife 35 descends to complete the forming of the blank 15.

The tool to which this invention specifically relates is a combinedslotting and creasing tool 26 which is shown more fully in FIGS. 3, 4and 5, to which reference is now made. The tool comprises a shell casingformed from two plates 40, 41 (FIGS. 4, 5 and 6) which plates haveformed therebetween a bottom opening recess 42 and which are abuttedtogether at the top portion thereof as at 43 being fastened together atthis location by a number of cap screws 44 (FIG. 6). Held between thetwo plates and 41 at suitable locations along the extent of the tool area plurality of slotting members 29. Each slotting member may consist ofa single piece of metal which has cutting teeth 46 at the bottom thereofand which have an inclined bottom edge to provide the necessary shearingaction as the tool descends into its cooperating slot.

Received within the bottom opening recess on either side of the slottingtool 29 are a pair of creaser bars 30 and 30'. These creaser bars arepreferably made up in sections of finite length, the total of which islonger than the maximum width of box blanks being handled, and eachsection comprising a pair of bars having a follower plate 52 at the topedge thereof together with a guide post 53.

The guide post 53 receives thereon a spring 54 which is held at itsupper end by another guide post 55. The guide post 55 is received on aplate 56 which is secured areaoss in the upper portion of the slot 42 asby fastening the same onto the inwardly extending body portion of theplates 40 and 41. The creaser bars 39 and 3% are guided for limitedreciprocation between the plates 40 and 41 by forming recesses 58, 59 inthe side walls of the plates t and 51 respectively. Stop plates at and61 are constructed of suitable anti-friction self lubricating mate rialand extend inwardly into the recess 42, being held in position by meansof cap screws 62. The stop plates are received within the recesses 58and 59 and will limit the reciprocation of the creaser bars as shown inFIGS. 4 and 5, the lower and upper edges as at 63 and 64 respectively ofthe creaser bar abutting the stop bar 61, for example.

The functional end or nose portions of the creaser bars 30 and 39' maybe formed in a variety of shapes. As shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 thecreaser bars have a blunt end at 66 with an angular side wall at 67 thatis extending upwardly at an angle of approximately 60. Some typicalalternate shapes are, for example, shown in FIG. 9 wherein the combinedend surfaces 66 and 67 of the prior embodiment have been reoriented toprovide a small blunt end adjacent the cutter bar as at "it? with a moregradual sloping wall 71 formed at an angle of approximately 30. In eachof these varying embodiments a different type of emboss or crease isformed in the board under consideration. For example, in the form shownin FIGS. 4 to 7 the resulting embossing line formed will consist of twospaced walls extending on an angle so as to define effectively twofolding zones as at 68 and 6?. When these two folding zones areutilized, they effectively bend only through an arc of to form thestructure of FIG. 8 wherein the inner edge as at M of each portion ofthe embossed crease abuts. A slightly different result is secured withthe form of creaser bar shown in FIG. 9. Here because of the great angleused for the surface 71, the emboss or crease formed will give a largecavity. Accordingly, when the wall board is folded in the area 72, '73,the inclined walls 74, 75 will be spaced apart the distance shown forthe thickness of wall board also shown. It will be apparent, however,that if a thicker board is used, the spacing will not be the same forthe proportions will change.

From the above it will be seen that when the combined tools of FIGS. 3-6are moved downwardly in the machine as described in FIG. 2, the ends 66,66' of the creaser bars will first strike the upper surface of the boardB. Further downward movement will extend the slotting tool 29 so as tocut a slot in the board B, and during this operation the only pressurebeing exerted by the creaser bars 30 and 3t) is by the urgence of thespring 54 which is being compressed. Further downward movement of thecom plete assembly will cause an abutment of the surface 63 against theguide block 61, for example, and positively force the entire end of thecreaser bars into embossing relationship with the board as shown inFIGS. 5, 7 and 9. The reverse travel of the tool upwardly will be inreverse action. It will be seen that since the creascr bar ends of thetool of FIGS. 36 will come in contact with the board under first theurgence of pressure exerted by a spring, there is avoided any sudden orabrupt crushing action which would be encountered when a creaser bar isforced under pressure of a hydraulic actuating ram solidly againstobjects such as a board. There is, however, a sudden impact of theslotting tool 29 with the board which will provide a clean shearingaction that is enhanced by providing the teeth on an angle relative tothe surface of the board so that the teeth at the lower end 45 of thetool 29 first engage the sheet board and provide a clean shearing actionas successive teeth come in contact.

Referring now to FIG. 11 of the drawing, there is shown a basic form ofslotting tool and creaser bar assembly in accordance with the invention.The knife member 35 is, as in the previously described embodiments, heldrigidly in position between the two side plates 40' and 41' by capscrews such as 44. Along a narrowed upper portion 36 of the knife, thereis received a pair of creaser bars 87 and 88 which terminate in a pairof angled side walls 89, 90 respectively, the creascr bars being held invertical position relative to the knife by means not shown. In thisfashion as the complete assembly descends and completes a stroke, thecreaser members particularly the side walls thereof 89, 9% will embossthe portions of the slot 17 on either side thereof continuing betweenthe slots with a complete pair of embossed areas formed by the end walls91 and 92 on lines such as 18-18 in FIG. 1.

The structure of FIG. 11 is particularly adapted to homogeneousmaterials such as solid fibre board, chip board, fibre box board,folding box board, double face kraft board, and miscellaneous like, andsilimar appellations such as sheet and board made from wood fibre,plastics and other organic and inorganic compounds. Further, thisstructure is particularly adapted to such boards when coated forsurface-finish and/or employed to provide liquidand vapor-tightbarriers. Specifically, in such applications, the width of the notchblade 85 is determined as a proportion of the thickness of the material,and the depth of the creases such as at 94 also is proportioned to thesame reference. Uniquely, in comparison to the type of subsequentfolding of the corner as shown in FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and 10 with the innermaterial of the box on the top and the fold made upward, the creasingsmay be made on the outer surface 95 of the material, and the foldingsubsequently made downward as shown in broken line in FIG. 12.

l claim:

1. A slotting and creasing tool for use in a box blank forming machinecomprising a casing having a pair of side walls, a top wall and an openbottom wall, slotting members fastened in said casing at certainlocations and in a tanner to project cutting portions below the bottomwall of the casing, a pair of creaser bars transversely spaced withinsaid casing, said bars received for reciprocation and normally springbiased below said bottom wall, the lower edges of said bars having noseportions with blunt ends.

2. A slotting and creasing tool for use in a box blank forming machinecomprising a casing have opposite interior walls, a pair of spacedcreaser bars having portions located exteriorly of said casing and otherportions contiguous with said walls, said creaser bars having nose portions extending below the lower edge of the casing, a slot ting memberfastened in said casing and having a cutting portion projecting belowsaid casing, said slotting memher being received between portions ofsaid spaced creaser bars, said creaser bars being arranged to slide insaid casing perpendicular to the lower edge thereof, resilient biasingmeans urging said creaser bars outwardly of said casing and stop meansassociated with said casing engage able with said creaser bars wherebymovement of said bars inwardly of said casing is arrested.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,485,020 Staude Oct. 18, 1949 2,814,344 Oberem Nov. 26, 1957 2,851,933Bradford et a1 Sept. 16, 1958 3,060,816 Martin Oct. 30, 1962 FOREIGNPATENTS 14,743 Great Britain July 18, 1905 209,529 Germany May 4, 1909225,675 Great Britain r Dec, 11, 1924

2. A SLOTTING AND CREASING TOOL FOR USE IN A BOX BLANK FORMING MACHINECOMPRISING A CASING HAVE OPPOSITE INTERIOR WALLS, A PAIR OF SPACEDCREASER BARS HAVING PORTIONS LOCATED EXTERIORLY OF SAID CASING AND OTHERPORTIONS CONTIGUOUS WITH SAID WALLS, SAID CREASER BARS HAVING NOSEPORTIONS EXTENDING BELOW THE LOWER EDGE OF THE CASING, A SLOTTING MEMBERFASTENED IN SAID CASING AND HAVING A CUTTING PORTION PROJECTING BELOWSAID CASING, SAID SLOTTING MEMBER BEING RECEIVED BETWEEN PORTIONS OFSAID SPACED CREASER